One day while I was at work, my boss brought her pet pig into the store and during the visit, the pig bit one of my fellow workers, and I was called upon to bandage up her finger. Does this story seem hard to believe? Is it too outrageous to be true? I don’t think so. In fact, this story was only a lie because I wasn’t actually there, but all other aspects of the story were factual. It’s easier to embellish a lie by including oneself in the narrative as a spectator or participant, as I did with my story. Most good lies contain an element of truth, which adds to the story’s believability. In this circumstance, the content is factual and therefore presents a possible and, in fact, plausible story. The technique of telling a lie that is presented as a personal experience is more believable than telling a lie about a situation which you were not a party to. If you’re going to tell a story that’s a lie, you have to make the story believable. One technique in doing so would be to talk about a partially true event, and the second would be to include yourself as a participant or present observer of the event. Both content and method of delivery contribute to the believability of a story, whether true or false.
Digital Social Narratives 